SIOUX FALLS – It’s one thing to place at a state track and field meet, it’s entirely another to do what Aberdeen Central pulled off on Thursday afternoon at Howard Wood Field.

The Golden Eagles ran in the slow heat of the boys’ sprint medley relay, but thanks to an ideal situation, ended up capturing fourth place in the event.

Central entered the meet ranked 12th, but the Golden Eagles figured they were in the running for a place.

“We knew we were going to be better than that,” said Central boys’ coach Greg Murley.

The Golden Eagles switched out a couple members on the squad, and then took advantage of Yankton’s Dylan Payer running anchor in the race.

“The Payer kid is a 1:54 half-miler, one of the top kids in the state,” Murley said. “So I knew we had never run David (Van Veen), we had never run Colby (Dauwen), so we felt pretty good about our chances when we put together a medley team.”

Yankton ended up winning the slow heat in a time that was actually better than any team in the fast heat to win the event. Central ended up second in the heat and fourth overall.

“We just kind of pulled together our final team,” said junior Eli Biegler who ran the second leg, “got everybody in their right places to where they were able to run the fastest, and we ended up PRing by just about six seconds.”

Biegler agreed that Payer’s presence in the race made a big difference for the Golden Eagles.

“It was actually better for us,” Biegler said. “David was able to keep track of him and try to chase him down, and that definitely helped our time.”

The Central boys’ also grabbed a fourth place finish in the javelin as senior Jett Carlson improved on his eighth-place ranking heading into the event.

“It’s been a nerve-wrecking week all week,” Carlson said. “Competing for only six throws, it gets to be a lot of waiting, hurry up and waiting. I’m just glad I got to let one loose.”

Carlson‘s top throw was 156 feet, 3 inches.

“I don’t ever think it’s going to be far enough for me,” Carlson said, “but fourth is what I’ll take today. I’ll be alright with that.”

Carlson, who plans on punting for the Northern State football team as well as throwing the javelin at NSU, talked about punting into the wind and throwing a javelin into the wind.

“Both of them are a little tough,” Carlson said. “I’m not a big fan of the wind, but living in Aberdeen you know you get used to it, especially South Dakota.”

The Golden Eagles will look to build on their momentum when action resumes today.

“Hopefully, we have a good second and third day,” Murley said, “and we want to keep running up until the very end of this meet.”

The Central girls grabbed a couple of places in the high jump as Ciara Frank finished second, just edging out teammate Madison Hochstetter who tied for third.

“We’re used to competing against each other, or with each other,” Frank said, “so it doesn’t really make a difference.”

Frank said she tries to tune out all of the distractions while competing in the middle of the track while the races are going on around her, so it’s not hard to concentrate.

“For me, I would say it’s pretty easy,” Frank said. “Hearing people cheer for you kind of motivates me a little bit, but otherwise I just try and shut everything out.”

Mya Arampatiz and Frank ended up qualifying for finals in the 100-meter hurdles, but Hochstetter just missed out.

Central girls’ coach Jim Appl said Hochstetter handled it in a way that he knew she would.

“We had a pretty darn good day to start out with. I’m always hoping to get three in the hurdles across to the finish line,” Appl said. “Hochstetter doesn’t get there and the other two do, and I didn’t even say anything to Hochstetter after it. I could see with her attitude and her mindset where it was. She had already moved on to the next event. I just looked at her and nodded, and we knew exactly what was going on, and she went to the high jump and did exactly what you expect a senior to do. She got out there and did a great job.”

The Golden Eagles will be back with plenty of more events to compete in today and Saturday.

“It was a good day,” Appl said, “and we’re looking forward to the next two days.”

To see complete Class AA opening day results, click on the following link:

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/545396/results/all